15 December 2014

YOU have donated a whopping $5940 on our official Givealittle page and I know of a few donations which were made that somehow ended up with the Canterbury West Coast Air Rescue Trust, but not on our page, THANK YOU all!

Thanks to some eagle eyes (thanks Ross and Brian) I have corrected a couple of mistakes on the full Brevet map which is here, there are a couple of further adjustments that need to be made to the track in the next week. Please note that through a couple of sections the .gpx might not be exact BUT at those points you will be on a well formed and obvious track so navigation should not be a problem.
We will have comprehensive cue sheets which we will email out around the middle of January.
It is your responsibility to make yourselves familiar with the course by using the link above for the Brevet and the Brevette link here.
Start looking at the distances between services, find out what time those services are open etc.
We will provide a lot of information but certainly not all.
Some of you may want to start thinking about how far you will get each day and make separate maps for those days. You can create elevation profiles from these, mark where towns etc are.

This preparation is just as important to completing the event as fitness is. It is also the fun part of the prep, enjoy it.

10 December 2014

We have just emailed this out to all registered entrants:Good evening,

As most of you will be aware the Kiwi Brevet has been run three times previously. The first year in an anti-clockwise direction, the second time in a clockwise direction, the third iteration was back to anti-clockwise but it used the Rainbow Road in place of the Molesworth Road.

Following on in this tradition, the 2015 edition will go in a clockwise direction and will also use the Rainbow Road with a couple of wee changes from the 2014 route.

The dreaded North Bank Rd is back! I have it on good authority that it has had a years use by logging trucks and is in much much better condition than earlier this year. We aim to stay on the lower road the whole way because we can guarantee the forestry managers that everyone will be through on day one (Saturday 31st January).

The Brevet will take in the St James Cycleway which starts just after the glorious Island Saddle descent, past Lake Tennyson, and will therefore miss out (nearly) all of the body jarring corrugations on the Lake Tennyson Road :-)

The Brevette will hang a left at Sedgemere Lakes, just before the ascent of Island Saddle, and take in the beautiful Alma Valley (Severn to Sedgemere 4WD Road) which brings you out near Red Gate on the Acheron Road (Molesworth Station Rd), which you will then follow out to Acheron Accommodation and onto Hanmer.

The other change is near the other end of the courses. The fantastic ascent of the Porika Track is still there but you won't be turn right when you hit St Arnaurd-Kawatiri Road, instead you will turn left and head down the valley to Kawatiri, then right again onto Kohatu-Kawatiri Road. You head up the valley turning off the main road onto Tadmor-Glenhope Rd for some more gravel and tarsal before popping out at Tapawera.

The course then follows the main road North for 6 or 7kms before turning onto another nice gravel road which pops you out on part of the Great Taste Trail. From there the next stop is Wakefield and then the same course as previous Brevets to finish.

The Brevet will be 1151kms and the Brevette 739kms.

I will come back with some points about the route changes but will leave you to digest it all for now.

Please find the two links below to the Brevet and Brevette course maps.

The route

An 1100 and 600 km bicycle brevet around the top of the South Island - with as much off road riding as possible.

Event creator Simon Kennett rode the 4000 km Great Divide in 2008 and decided to replicate the experience in New Zealand. This is the original kiwi brevet that spawned several other brevet throughout the country.